Chief State Councillor under King Myeongjong; grandfather of Queen Insun
| Life | 1491 ~ 1558 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 청송 심씨 |
Sim Yeon-won (沈連源, 1491–1558) was a mid-Joseon official under King Myeongjong, of the Cheongsong Sim clan, with the courtesy name Maengyong, the pen name Boam and the posthumous title Chunghye. A great-grandson of Chief State Councillor Sim Hoe, he was the eldest son of Sim Sun-mun, who was beheaded in the 1504 purge. He studied under Kim An-guk, and his younger brothers included Sim Dal-won, Sim Bong-won and Sim Tong-won.
He became a licentiate in 1516, passed the civil examination in 1522 and the higher re-examination in 1526. In 1533 he relieved famine victims as a special commissioner and became magistrate of Uiju, and he later served as royal secretary, Chief Censor, head of the National Academy, Vice Minister of Punishments, Mayor of Hanseong and Vice Minister of Taxation. In 1542 his granddaughter (the future Queen Insun) married Grand Prince Gyeongwon, the future Myeongjong.
As Minister of Taxation during the 1545 purge he was named a second-rank Wisa Merit Subject and Prince Cheongcheon, and he helped compile the Annals of King Injong. He rose through the State Council to Right and Left State Councillor, became Chief State Councillor in 1551, and retired in 1558, the year he died.
He was known as a fine writer and a meticulous administrator with a deep knowledge of Chinese and Korean geography. As governor of Tamna (Jeju) he had mapped the island's terrain, and during the Japanese raids of 1555 those maps reportedly helped the defenders repel the invaders. Clan sources add that because his father had been executed in front of the Arsenal he never walked that road again, and that, wary of his status as a royal in-law, he gave all his grandsons names with the character gyeom, 'humility'.
He was enshrined in King Myeongjong's royal shrine. His only son Sim Gang became Myeongjong's father-in-law, and his grandsons included the Westerner leader Sim Ui-gyeom and Minister of War Sim Chung-gyeom.
His spirit-way stele, erected in 1560 in Tongjin-eup, Gimpo, was designated a Gyeonggi Tangible Cultural Heritage in 1992; its inscription was composed by Jeong Sa-ryong.
His son Sim Gang became King Myeongjong's father-in-law; his grandchildren included Queen Insun, Sim Ui-gyeom and Sim Chung-gyeom.